Healer Arc 2 -- Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Thaden had visited the cities that had been created on the developmental world of Tarth, and at the time, he had considered them fairly massive when compared to the various towns that dotted the Region that he’d ended up in.  Unlike those cities, which apparently only had a few decades of time to be completely built and furnished by the natives before the Contenders arrived, the city of Teglir appeared to have been around a long, long time. 

It wasn’t that he saw old buildings or crumbling walls, because that was far from the case; everything he saw as the ship glided into the massive docks set up on both sides of the river showed that the it was all well-maintained without any visible cracks or signs of age.  Even as he now realized there were dozens, if not hundreds of boats and even ships larger than the Rivercat sailing or rowing past their vessel, the place seemed fresh and lively, as if this city was a new and up-and-coming place that was recently developed…

…if it wasn’t for definite feeling in the area that spoke of centuries, if not millennia, of history in the city.  It was something that he’d heard about people from the United States back on Earth experiencing when they visited Europe and saw the historic areas located there; with the US being relatively “new” as far as most of its infrastructure went, seeing something that was built 500 to 2,000 years before was a mind-blowing experience.

As for the city itself, he couldn’t even see all of it from the river.  Stretching off to what appeared to be the north and south with 30-foot-tall walls made of a dark-red stone that matched the reddish tint in most Netherine’s tiger-y fur, the city of Teglir actually straddled the river in a massive archway that elevated the center of the city over the east-flowing river at a height of 100 feet at its apex.  Multiple stone columns, each at least 15 feet in diameter, were anchored into the riverbed below, supporting the enormous archway, with them spaced out enough to allow all types of boats and ships to pass underneath without any trouble at all.  Instead of the archway over the river being a dark tunnel, as he would’ve assumed at first glance, it was lit up by numerous strips of light that hinted that the upper portion of the arch had slits cut into it; it was only when he looked at it with a keen eye that he realized that the strips of light illuminating the tunnel over the river somewhat mimicked the tiger stripes of the Netherines – who were apparently the ones who ruled this portion of the Densartis Faction. 

He only assumed that because, when he looked around, the majority of the people he saw walking around on the docks were Netherines, just like they were the majority of the crew on the Rivercat.  That didn’t mean that there weren’t other races, and he recognized quite a few of them as he looked around, but they were a great minority compared to the tiger-demons he saw all around the place.

The city itself extended approximately a mile over the river before it appeared to open up again, but he had the impression that the city was much wider than that.  Unfortunately, other than being able to see the docks and some random buildings that extended over the height of the walls, he couldn’t exactly see the layout of the city from his position.  All he could tell was that this city was much bigger and more-populated than any city he’d seen on Tarth – by a significant margin.

“Whoa.  Is this the capital of the Densartis Faction or something?” he blurted out, forgetting that Garney was standing next to him. 

“Teglir?  No, it’s not the capital of the Faction.  It’s not even the capital of Nethinia, where the Netherines originally relocated when they joined Plangea thousands of years ago.  It’s an important trade city, however, as the Fane River widens the further east you go, which allows for the rapid transportation of goods brought in from this portion of the continent.”  He paused in his explanation as he looked at Thaden with narrowed eyes.  “But you should know all of that, being from the area… correct?”

“Oh, uh, I knew a little bit of it, but I’m relatively new to the Faction.”

Garney’s eyes resumed their previous appearance; whether he was less suspicious after Thaden’s answer, he couldn’t tell.  “Right.  I see.  Anyway, the Netherine noble that runs this city, Baron Veridoon, is a fairly competent leader, which has led to this city expanding in its domination of local trade, as almost everything west of Teglir runs through the city before it reaches the rest of the Aroxis Empire.  Do you see that tower?” the Adventurer abruptly asked, pointing to a tall spire that Thaden could see even from the river, despite the fact that it appeared to be located in the center of the arch.  And not in the center of the arch near the edge, but in the middle of the city, which meant that it was incredibly tall to be able to see it from his location.  Thaden nodded, prompting Garney to continue.  “That’s the Baron’s residence, the largest compound in the city, but no one could argue that he doesn’t deserve it for the prosperity he’s brought to the city and its residents.”

He really seems to like this Baron guy; this is my first real experience with them, as there weren’t any in Felith as far as I know.  Whatever – it doesn’t really concern me, I suppose.  As long as I stay out of their way, I shouldn’t have to worry about them. 

“How many people live here in the city?” Thaden asked.

Garney thought about it for a few seconds before answering.  “I’m not real sure, actually.  If I had to take a guess, I’d say at least four million, but no more than six million.  But that includes the many farming communes located among the outskirts, as well as the dock workers.”

As Thaden glanced around, taking his eyes off the enormous monstrosity of a settlement, he noticed for the first time that the lands leading up to the city were cultivated and contained what appeared to be miles and miles of fields and grazing areas for livestock.  He’d missed a lot as he’d been focusing on his Advancements and whatnot, but now that he was actually paying attention, he could tell that there was a massive operation going on around the city. 

To the north and south, he saw hundreds of wagons moving into and out of the city as well as the warehouses near the docks, loading and unloading literal tons of trade goods that would then be shipped elsewhere – or had been shipped back to Teglir.  These wagons led off to the southwest and northwest, where there were likely more towns and cities where they would pick up more products, transporting them back to the city on a constant basis.  He briefly wondered why there were wagons and large ships at all, when Inventories were a thing, but then he looked at his own Inventory and deduced the answer quite quickly.  While it was bigger than it had been when he was Level 1, or even Level 3, he still couldn’t store too much in it at Level 15; based on how long it took the typical person to increase their Level and that the average person only reached Level 25 throughout their whole lives, that meant that their Inventories just weren’t large enough to transport much more than the essentials.

As for the size of the population, he could scarcely believe that the city held 4 million people.  If he remembered correctly, the city of Los Angeles back on Earth held that many people, though the entire county had more than twice that many, so he had trouble picturing that many people in Teglir.  Then again, he hadn’t actually seen the city properly, so he didn’t know if it was accurate or not, but he still thought that Garney was exaggerating at least a little bit.

“I see,” Thaden said with a touch of skepticism in his voice that he tried to smother.  Changing the subject, he asked, “How many Adventurer Coalition branches are in the city?”  With it being so large, he thought that there had to be dozens, if not hundreds, of branches; his experience on Tarth, and the cities there, told him that it was necessary to have multiple Coalition branches available despite them all being in the same city, as there were just too many Adventurers to handle them all in one, singular building.

“There’s only one.”

He wasn’t expecting that answer.  “What?  Only one?  How is that possible?”

Garney chuckled.  “More than one isn’t necessary.  You’ll see when you get there.”

“Does that mean it’s extremely large or that there aren’t many Adventurers?”

All he got was a smile in return instead of an answer.  “You’ll see.  I don’t want to ruin it for you.”

“My guess is that they have an extremely large building to handle the tens of thousands of Adventurers based out of the city.  It is highly unlikely that there aren’t enough Adventurers to justify multiple branches, so that has to be the explanation.”

Sadia had been relatively quiet in his mind since he’d been messing with his Advancements, as well as during his conversation with his fellow Adventurer.  Hearing her voice made him feel good, however, as he was feeling a bit dwarfed by the enormous city and the thought of walking into a place with millions of people was intimidating – even for him.

“Once we disembark, we’ll be heading toward the Coalition anyway, so you can come with us.  We have to report to them the reason why we were unable to complete the Quest, after all, though we’ll probably be sent out again tomorrow.”

Thaden nodded, even as the ship slid into a spot along the docks, a stone pier appearing along the left side of the vessel.  He eavesdropped as Demarco walked up to the captain of the Rivercat, who didn’t look particularly pleased, but he fortunately wasn’t raging like he thought would be the case after having to turn around.

“Most likely, we’ll be reassigned to take you up to Fanebridge tomorrow morning.  We apologize for not being able to complete this trip today, but the circumstances wouldn’t allow us to proceed safely without risking you, your crew, or your ship unnecessarily.  The Coalition will probably refund a portion of your fee because of the delay, but I can assure you that we’ll do our best to see you through entirely on our next trip.”

Thaden could tell the Rivercat captain was reluctant to say anything good considering the situation, but he did so, anyway – likely because of the refund that was mentioned.  “I appreciate you bringing us back safely, even if we weren’t able to complete our route.  I look forward to finishing it tomorrow, then.”

The words from both individuals seemed unnecessarily formal, but he supposed that such things were normal for those who did this kind of thing every day.  Regardless, once the exchange was complete, there was a slight bump as the ship knocked slightly against the pier, and Thaden watched two crew members quickly lower a gangplank off the side and onto the stone walkway down below. 

Garney put his hand on Thaden’s shoulder once again, patting it a couple of times.  “Let’s go.  We’ll show you to the Coalition and you can figure out what you’re doing from there.”  The hand left his shoulder a second later, and Thaden followed the other Adventurers down the gangplank and onto the pier, which was relatively empty – at least until he looked up along the main thoroughfare along the docks, which were filled with thousands of people moving large crates and other trade goods such as sacks of grains and what appeared to be cut and shaped timber, along with dozens of enormous, open-sided warehouses full of all matter of products. 

Sticking with Garney and the others as they pushed their way through the throng of people, Thaden barely heard the other Support Class ask, “So, what are your plans after this?  I’m sorry again that your Party was killed, an incredible tragedy no matter how long you’ve been in this profession, but are you determined to get back out there with a new Party?”

Thaden nodded, but Garney wasn’t looking in his direction.  “Yes, something like that.”

“Good.  Don’t let such a tragedy affect you too much.  It might sound callous, but I’ve seen too many good Adventurers lose their edge after they’ve lost a Party member, and I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”

Thaden thought that it was quite callous for the other Adventurer to say something like that, but he didn’t say anything.  Garney seemed like a good guy and likely only meant to be encouraging, though if Thaden was anyone else that had just lost a Party, he was pretty sure he would’ve pushed back against it.  As it was, he had more on his mind than to argue with the Porcerean, so he held his tongue.

Amongst the crowd, he saw more and more people of other races than the Netherines, though the tiger-demons still comprised at least 90% of those he passed.  For those that weren’t red-furred with black stripes and demon-looking horns, most of them gave Thaden the impression that they were Adventurers based on their outfits, though there were some that appeared to be part of ships’ crews.  There were so many people, though, that he had to mentally ignore all of their nametags, because the information overload was threatening to give him a headache.

Thankfully, his Celerity was high enough to allow him to keep up with Garney and the other Adventurers who had been on the Rivercat, as well as being able to avoid running into the people seeming to rush around all over the docks.  The crowd only seemed to increase as they approached the open stone and metal-banded gates leading into the northern part of the city, until they were forced to stop and wait their turn to enter.

Hmm… I don’t have my Adventurer Coalition Badge.  They weren’t able to give me a Platinum+ one in Felith, as they didn’t have access to any.  Typically, his Badge had normally been more than enough to enter any town or city on Tarth as it served as identification, though his experience in Felith showed him that it wasn’t necessary.  He didn’t know if such identification was required in Purbooth, as he’d been hauled off by the gate guards to see the people of the Local Legion before he could find out, so he didn’t know what was actually required – if anything.  Thankfully, he had a resource available right next to him that could answer his questions.

“Do they require any identification in order to enter the city?” he asked in a low voice, so that only Garney could hear him.

The other Adventurer pointed to the Iron Badge pinned to his clothes.  “Just your Badge if you’re an Adventurer.  There’s no fee for Adventurers – another benefit that came from Baron Veridoon being in charge.”

“And, uh, I lost my Badge?” Thaden asked.

“You lost your Badge?  Then, unfortunately, there is a small fee to enter: 3 Copper coins.  Once you get your Badge replaced, you won’t have to worry about the fee anymore.”

Only 3 Copper coins?  That’s not bad at all.

“I can do that.  Thanks.”

The line didn’t take long to deplete enough for them to enter, only about a minute or so, and Thaden watched as the Adventurer Party each flashed their Badges briefly toward one of the guards, who waved them inside with a quickness that indicated that Garney and the others were likely known to them.  Thaden, on the other hand, was immediately stopped as soon as he walked into range.

“Human?  I haven’t seen one of you here before.  Fee is 3 Copper, or the fee will be waved if you have a Coalition Badge.  Do you have a Badge?”

Thaden had already pulled out 3 Copper coins from his Inventory and handed them over to the waiting furry hand of the Netherine guard.  “I lost my Badge, and I’m on my way to get a replacement.”

“See that you do,” the guard said as he slipped the coins that he’d been given through a slot in a strongbox set up next to him.  “Nex—”

“Hold on, there.  Thaden, is it?  Come with me, if you would.”

Thaden experienced a mild panic as he seemed to be singled out, and he quickly worried that those individuals from the Local Legion had managed to get the word out about him.  He contemplated running, but decided against it, as all the guards were a higher Level than him and would be able to catch him quickly.  No use running or fighting my way out – I don’t have a chance.  I might as well just go along with whatever this is.

The one that had ordered him to follow was looking at him impatiently as he tried to figure out what to do, but after his brief indecision, he followed her to a structure near the gate that seemed to be built right into the wall.  He glanced back at Garney and the other Adventurers and shrugged helplessly at their questioning looks, before he entered what appeared to be some sort of guard barracks.  His steps faltered slightly as they turned down a hallway that had what appeared holding cells along both walls, but his escort didn’t stop.  The only reason he didn’t flee at that point, regardless of the speed of his pursuers, was that he wasn’t being literally carried like he had been in Purbooth by the Gate Guard there. 

Thankfully, the cells didn’t seem to be their destination, as the Netherine guard leading him opened a door at the end of the corridor that seemed to be difficult to open, and as she shoved it open with a creak that told him that it hadn’t been used in a while, she gestured for him to enter.  He wasn’t sure if he should be more frightened than relieved that he’d walked into a normal-ish office, though instead of a desk filled with paperwork inhabiting the space, there were only a number of bookshelves lining the walls with layers of dust covering them, looking like they hadn’t been dusted in years – but the glowing stone placed upon a metal stake in the middle of the room was what really caught his attention.  The guard closed the door behind her as she followed him inside, positioning herself across from him a second later as he stared at the glowing stone.  There was a potent energy emanating from it, though unlike the Codexical Access Point in the Coalition, he didn’t sense that anything bad would come from it.

For the first time, he looked at the name tag of the one who’d brought him there, as he’d been ignoring the deluge of names while he was within the crowd.

Parthena – Teglir Guard Captain {Densartis Faction}

Netherine

Level ???

“Thank you for following me without a fuss, Thaden,” she said as soon as she stopped moving.  “While this doesn’t occur very often, and in fact I haven’t seen an instance of this in at least three decades, every once in a while we have to deal with someone like you.”

“…Like me?  What do you mean?  A Human?”

She chuckled at the questions.  “No, it has nothing to do with your race – I couldn’t care less who you are.  What I’m talking about is your Faction – or lack of one, as it seems to be.  Can you tell me how you are able to disguise it?”

“I, uh, have never been a part of a Faction.  I arrived here only about 6 months ago, and was never part of one before that.”

Skeptical, Parthena shook her head.  It seemed as if his high Personality couldn’t convince everyone.  “I don’t believe that.  Fortunately, it doesn’t matter what you did to disguise your allegiance, as the Faction Assignment Terminal will reassign you, anyway.  Please touch the glowing stone in front of you.”

Uh, oh.  Is this going to be another Codexical Access Point situation?

As if hearing his thoughts, Sadia spoke up.

“You should be fine.  From what I understand, the Faction Assignment Terminal only partially interfaces with the Assimilation System but cannot access its resources, so if something goes wrong, you shouldn’t end up alerting the System.  Ignoring the small danger it presents, joining the Faction to enter the city is a necessary trade-off, and you might not attract attention from people who see your name tag and wonder why you aren’t with a Faction.”

Mentally thanking her, he took a deep breath and stepped forward, hesitating for only a second before he reached out and touched the glowing stone.  He prepared himself for some catastrophic failure to happen, nearly killing him like what happened when he touched the CAP back in Felith, but that didn’t happen – though there was a failure of sorts.

Determining Prior Allegiances…

ERRORIndividual not found_

Dissolving Previous Faction Assignments…

ERRORIndividual not found_

Assigning Faction: Densartis

Applying Visible Label…Done

Connecting to Densartis Network to apply pertinent restrictions…

ERRORIndividual not found_

Unable to establish connection

Faction Assignment incomplete!

As he quickly read through the messages, Thaden waited for the other shoe to drop as he expected the Guard Captain to question what went wrong.  However, as he took his hand off the glowing stone, he was taken aback at the smile on her face.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?  Now we don’t have to worry about you betraying your new Faction, at least not while you’re within our territory.  As I’m sure you know, any actions that you might attempt to make that would directly affect Faction security or the well-being of any Faction noble is punishable by immediate death, enforced by the Faction Network connection you just joined.  Do you have any questions before you’re on your way?”

Yes… just not for you.  He shook his head.

“Very good.  Then, I’ll lead you back out and you can go ahead with your day.  Thank you for being an obedient member of the Densartis Faction.”

Obedient member?  What the hell does that mean?

The trip back out of the guard barracks went by in a blur, and before he knew it, Thaden was walking back through the door that led to the structure, seeing Garney and the others waiting for him there.

“Ah!  See, I told them it was probably just the problem with your Faction,” Garney said as soon as Thaden walked up.  “They’re pretty strict about that in the cities, as they don’t want any foreign Faction infiltrators sneaking in and causing harm.  Now that you’re officially part of the Densartis Faction, they don’t have to worry about you any longer,” he continued matter-of-factly.  “Are you ready to go?”  At Thaden’s nod, the Adventurer Party turned around and started to lead the way into the city, with him following in their wake.

Sadia… you and I need to have a talk when we get the chance.